Hello!

First, I would like to express my appreciation
for the contents of chapter 23 (it's great!)

I would like to know what's the proper
way to instantiate a hashmap, where the
Compare parameter should maintain its
default value, but the Hash function is
other than DefaultHash<Key>

template<typename Key, typename T, typename Compare = std::equal_to<Key>, typename Hash = DefaultHash<Key> >
    class hashmap { //... };

I only need the Hash parameter changed.

Must I do something like:

hashmap<int, string, std::equal_to<int>, MidSquare<int> > hash1?

Second question: Since "count" is only used to check whether an
element exists, would there be any consequence in using bool as
a return type instead of size_type for the count method?

Thank you,
A. Alothman

Unfortunately, you'd have to specify the first three arguments to use a non-default value for the fourth. The STL classes have this same drawback -- you'll sometimes find yourself looking up and providing the default for one argument just so that you can change the following one.

Scott


----
Scott J. Kleper
Author, "Professional C++"
(Wrox, 2005)